After reading the title of this article, you’re probably asking yourself “Why would the website manager of this site say such a thing?” I say that because it’s true, a website isn’t the end all solution to marketing and selling your business.

Probably 5 or 10 years ago a website was a luxury or novelty item to have, but in today’s market it’s almost a must. Reports suggest that more and more people are placing a value on a business based on the fact that a.) they have a website and b.) it provides them with the information they seek.

To keep it as simple as possible, think of building a website like you were building a house. Is it better to buy a low-cost template based site and run the risk of looking like anyone else who buys the same template? Similar to those housing additions that sprout up in a field and if you look down the street every other one looks nearly identical?

Or is it better to build your website (house) from the ground up and have it exactly the way you want from the start? Will you have the budget to build a custom made site and can the designer deliver all of your expectations within that budget and quite possibly your time line?

Your website needs to have a good color scheme that matches your company identity, it needs to have an easy-to-follow and consistent navigation system, it needs to have a purpose such as selling, entertaining or informing and most importantly have good quality content.

One part of that content would be the images and graphics that make up the structure of your site. If it contains boring images or none at all, will they even take the time to look further or will they move on to the next competitor? You really need to view the aesthetics of your site much in the same way you would view a sales person. If a guy leaps out at you from behind a dumpster in a dark alley and wants to sell you a Rolex, would you buy from him or the well dressed sales person in a classy retail environment?

Right about now you might be questioning why you need all of this, because you just read an article on Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and know that 90% of all Internet users find the information they’re looking for via search engines such as Google or Yahoo. The article might instruct you to get some good keywords, get a title that is very descriptive, submit it to the top search engines and maybe ask for a link or two to your site. It is possible to increase your traffic with these tactics to a certain degree, but it can take weeks or even months to truly see these results. And even if you do see traffic increases are they also turning into more sales or inquiries?

As you can see a website is more than just a place where your business name and logo resides, it is a fully functional marketing tool that offers greater potential to sell your business than any other medium in history. But you will need to work at it and not just let it sit there, because just having it isn’t everything.